Independent Living Communities in San Ysidro, CA

"Westmont at San Miguel Ranch had a balcony that looked out on a lawn, kind of a big grassy area, where there's a bunch of crows. So, you didn't feel like you were looking at the traffic. The apartments were nice. They seemed airy. It's just not as big as Mom wanted it to be, but the apartment itself was nice. The library was more like an extension of the hallway. The building was good and it was very clean. The atmosphere seemed upbeat. The carpets were not very light and that always made everything seem a little darker, but the room itself was great. It was light."

"Paradise Village was awesome. If my mother-in-law decided to ever move here to San Diego, we would choose them. We toured independent and assisted, and it was all-in-one. She didn't have to walk very far to go for dining. It was all in one building with a small hallway. It was all-inclusive, and it wasn't as expensive as some. It was posh, and it was just wonderful. The rooms had a lot of space. They had a washer and dryer and a full kitchen. The closets and everything were great. The layout of the apartment was good. If we didn't own our own home and we wanted to go in there because we're over 60, we would do it ourselves. The staff was awesome. We went in to the dining area during COVID and we said hello to the chefs, and they were waving and having a fun time. The camaraderie among their team was awesome. We were really lucky that we even got a personal tour because they weren't doing them at the time, but we were very interested and we were allowed to go in as long as we took precautions, and they were great. This was the best place. I can't say enough about this that I love it myself."

"I am a resident of Monte Vista Village. I'm with my mother who has Alzheimer's and I'm her caregiver, so we have the two-bedroom. If there's ever a problem, I feel real safe here knowing that they can take care of us. So far, so good. I really, really love it. I've been doing all my landscaping outside and everybody's enjoying it. The staff is very helpful and they've been good to me. I've not had any problem whatsoever with them. The floor plan is wonderful. It's really, really nice. We have the biggest one here, and it's the only one that's a two-bedroom and I absolutely love it. I have two chihuahuas. The food is very, very good. I'm allergic to certain things, so I really appreciate them putting a weekly menu out. Any kind of peppers, I get very, very ill, so if it's on the menu, I'll just cook in the apartment and fix something. It's only happened a couple of times, so no problem. We all have to wear masks and some forget. If you come in without a mask on like in the dining area, they will provide one for you to put on. They're very, very strict on that. I'm kind of trapped in here with my mother because I can't leave her for five minutes. I have to have a babysitter, so I get one of the residents that's not quite demented. This one woman that I get over here is very nice. It's no more than two hours every Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those two hours make all the difference in the world to me because I get claustrophobic being in here seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Just getting out for a couple of hours a week really helps. With mom's insurance, she's on a hospice situation where they allow a babysitter to come in and take care of her on one of those days, so I can stay out as long as I want on that day. I get back before lunchtime. It shouldn't take more than two hours. They give us an hour and a half for the lunch, so I'm not concerned about my mother missing it. We all look out for each other here. I've made a lot of good friends. These people here are so sweet. There are only two gentlemen that I have gotten into a little bit of a disagreement with, but everybody feels the same way. They're kind of timid, but they're sweet people. I love everyone in here except for those two. I have no problem. I've put about $4000 or $5000 worth of gardening into my area. I have two patios in the back and I've gotten little birds. I'm in a cool place where I get a real cool breeze, wind chimes and everything. Everybody comes up and it's talk of the table here. I'm hoping to stay here, but it depends on my mother. I cannot afford it by myself, but with her Social Security check and mine and my dad's pension and everything, we're able to afford this this one because it's the most expensive one here. If worse comes to worst, I can always go down to a studio. The studios are very big and the one-bedrooms are big and they're nice. I've had plumbing problems and a fan problem. My mother's fan and light in the ceiling has not worked since the day we've moved in here. They say they got all the parts and they've just been busy and I understand that, but I'd like to get that taken care of because she's really uncomfortable in there, especially in the heat. She's in the back of the house like where I am, but I have an air-conditioner in my room, so I'm not uncomfortable at all, but she is. I've had plumbing problems with my toilet overflowing twice now since I've been here, but it's because of all the roots that are in the trees because this is an old property. They've had to call in a private plumber a couple of times now and get in there and really root it out. I assure them that I'm not putting anything in the toilet that's not supposed to be there. My mother's flush is really good. There's no problem in her bathroom, but I've got the smaller toilet and it doesn't flush as easy. That's the only problem whatsoever that I've had, but they take care of it immediately. The staff is good, except for one lady at the front desk in the lobby. I get along with her OK. She's gotten a little nippy with me a couple of times, but I just kind of let it roll off my shoulder. She's just very strong willed and she speaks her mind. If you piss her off, she's going to tell you, but she's been OK with me. I know she's got a tough job. I think she's the main head of the receptionists out there. I can understand, so I try to be as patient as I can be with her. Everybody else, I have no problem. The manager is a wonderful lady. I'm very happy. I want to put in a good word for the maintenance assistant. The main guy was in Texas for a couple of weeks and he stepped right up. He came in and did work for me. He's just been wonderful and he's got the best attitude. He greets everybody in the morning. He's always got a smile on his face and he says good morning to everybody and how are you doing. He even helped out with the plumbing the other day. The head cleaning lady did a wonderful job. She's very thorough. Everything has been really good for me. I think the food is delicious. My hat off to the chef there. I think he's doing a wonderful job, but they seem understaffed. They have like two people running back and forth. When you first come in, you get your food or salad, then you go to the main menu and then you get your drinks and your desserts and soup. There seems to be not enough people like there are only two handling all those sections. They had another lady that they just hired, and she seems really nice. She's trying to get used to everything. They're doing good. They also have what is called a sit-down dining room. Ever since I've been in here, I haven't been able to do that. If I can get my mother to go down there and sit and order off a menu, that would be really nice. However, she will not leave the apartment and she just cannot stand in the line. If they could get that open again, we would all be very happy. I go down to pick her food and I have to bring it back to the apartment. I have to make sure I get down there early enough to be around the first in the line, so I can get back to the apartment real fast. Otherwise, there's a long line and you got to wait and I'm worrying about her and whether she's tripping or going out the back door. I just can't get her to go out. If we could get that dining room open where you can order off a menu, I could sit there with her, make sure she sits still and doesn't wander off. I would recommend it to everybody. Jackie was so accommodating. I gave her $300 to hold the apartment because she could've rented it out to anybody because it's the only two-bedroom apartment in this whole place. I was honest with her. She was honest with me. I moved in exactly the day that I said I was going to and that really meant a lot to her. It all worked out really well. I'm very happy. I've met some wonderful neighbors. We've been very helpful to each other. I had one came over and babysat for me one day and there's another one that just moved in and I've become very good friends with her. This last Sunday, another one on my other side just moved in. I hope she doesn't get upset that I've landscaped her area in front. Everybody loves it. The only other problem that I can see is a lot of guests that come over are not wearing masks. That kind of irritates me because we have to have them on. If we don't have them on, they're going to be issued to us and warn us. I always wear mine. There are people who walk through the cafeteria and come in one door, but they still should have a mask on. In fact, they didn't even check in. They're supposed to check in at the front desk and get a sticker because they have to monitor them, give them a check on their forehead to see if they have a fever. They're just happy go lucky and they're bringing flowers in with no mask. I didn't say anything to them because that's not my business. I don't know what the situation is there. I know they did not go to the office because they came from a different area, but the office should be aware of that."

"We visited St Paul's Manor. I liked it a lot, and that's what we chose for mom. They have a nice variety of apartments from small studios to a large one-bedroom. They had the most fabulous views. We tried the food and it was good, the dining room was very nice, and there was a story telling activity when I was there. They had a calendar, and stuff to do every day. They had parking, laundry rooms, and a library."

"I toured Atria Collwood. They offered me but I did not eat there. It was just a smaller facility. It didn't have as much space for the people that lived there. The staff was friendly."

"I toured Grossmont Gardens. That was a huge facility. They had every single kind of care. They even had a lockdown unit. I really liked it, but it was out of my price budget, and for the care that my sister needed there, she was too young for it. They referred me to try to get certain funding, but she still doesn't qualify for it because she's too young. I would love to put her there, but it's too expensive because she pays out of pocket. I really enjoyed the tour. I had seen them helping some of the patients in and out of the elevator, because it was dinner time, and that was really good to see that they spoke to the patients and didn't just walk past them. The dining area looked very good. It was open, and everybody was lively talking to each other. And I'm pretty sure they offer haircutting and transportation. They offer numbers to different people that may be able to help me with different things, and I really like that, too."

"I toured Waterford Terrace Retirement Community. I liked the meal program; that was very good. The thing about the meals is they don't use a point program. You just have three meals a day, and you don't run out of points during the month. Appliances are included in the apartment. I like that most of the units have a ground-level place to walk. It is built on the hillside, and even though it's seven stories high, almost everybody has a ground level behind them. In the front, you're elevated, but if you go at the back, you're right on the ground level, so that was very nice. I didn't like the fact that they didn't have a pool, which was kind of important to me. However, even though they don't have a full range of levels of care, they have arrangements with a third party to do assisted living and memory care. It's very well-kept. They're on top of the maintenance. Everything is nicely painted and fresh, and all the grounds are kept very well. It looks like a good, solid facility. So those are the primary things on my note. We also had a meal, and it was good. It was a good menu."

"Westmont is newly constructed. The rooms are excellent and well-equipped. The common areas are inviting and friendly. The staff members are informative, cooperative and enthusiastic. It is located near a hospital and it overlooks the park. We ate there and the food was excellent. They have the usual menu supplemented by daily specials."

"Solstice is in an excellent location in Downtown El Cajon where you can walk to the library, a park, and great restaurants, yet it's in a quiet area offering a trickling pond surrounded by lovely gardens and benches for meeting up with friends and family. All the residents we saw and the staff who welcomed us appeared to be happy and friendly, but because of the Covid pandemic, masks and social distancing was observed throughout our visit and the formerly "normal" activities are on hold at present. However, we were able to tour the facility and my sister and I are in the process of each securing an apartment, where we hope to live our lives "vibrantly", once we get through this difficult time! "

"Lantern Crest has been a great place for my dad. My dad has recently moved in to Lantern Crest, and we are so happy to make the decision to move him over here. They have great staff members and directors. Kaan, especially has been very helpful. On the first day of the move-in, he personally came into my dad’s room to introduce himself and welcomed my father to the community. Fixed wobbly refrigerator and answered all of our questions. All staff members are very kind and caring. Caregivers, activities, servers etc. I would definitely recommend Lantern Crest to anyone looking for a beautiful place to live. "

"Oakmont of Pacific Beach was newer, and extremely active with activities, so there were a lot of things to do. However, the rooms that were available for the price, were shared and not private. They invited us one evening to enjoy the art instructor, which was very nice. They had very nice food. It had a theater, so you could watch movies on a big screen in comfortable seats. The staff couldn't be nicer and considerate. They know your name."

"I love living here. Everything is organized, clean, and people are happy here. I intend to stay a long time! The staff is always smiling, know your name, and they know what they’re doing. "

"We visited Vi at La Jolla Village. The staff was fine. It was very elegant. They had an indoor pool and a gym. They had a trainer if you want to get specialized training. They had valet parking. They had two high-rise buildings, and it was very closely monitored. "

"I visited White Sands La Jolla. It is a newer building. It is on the beach. It is luxurious. The price is pretty luxurious too."